Heard in the Humidor: For the week of February 11-15, 2008

The unstoppable flow of premium cigars headed into the United States continued strong as the Cigar Association of America’s import report for November 2007 was released.

Los Angeles – For the month, 32.9 million premium cigars entered the U.S., about the same as in 2007. But for the year, the total rolled past the magic 300 million mark at 301.8 million. If imports for December resemble the 29 million imported in 2007 or the 33 million from 2006, the total for 2007 will become the second or third-largest on record. The 1998 total of 334.6 million is second all-time and the 329.5 million from 2005 is third. The all-time mark of 417. 8 million was set in 1997.

The 300 million-plus total for 2007 is the fourth year in a row that premium cigar imports surpassed 300 million. Prior to the start of this current streak in 2005, only the Cigar Boom years of 1997 and 1998 had ever had imports of more than 300 million into the U.S. It’s a good sign of a steady and perhaps modestly expanding market.

The Dominican Republic, Honduras and Nicaragua accounted for 98.7 percent of all imports in November of 2007 and 98.8 percent of all imports for the year. Two other cigar-producing countries have registered more than a million cigars exported to the U.S.: the Bahamas at 1.49 million through 11 months and Mexico at 1.33 million.

Overall cigar imports, which include machine-made and little cigars, have also zoomed in 2007. In the 11-month report, the total number of cigars – of all types – imported into the U.S. rose to 1.12 billion for 2007, against 948.4 million in 2006, an increase of 17.7 percent. Machine-made cigar imports are up 15.4 percent for the year, from 448.1 million to 516.9 million, as a major shift in production has occurred from U.S. facilities to the Dominican Republic and Honduras. And little cigar imports continued up dramatically, ahead 36.5 percent from 2006.

>> Keeping cigars humidified is a major preoccupation of cigar lovers and convenience, along with dependability, are critical factors in finding the right one.

A new entry, the Humi-Disc, has been added to the Cigar Savor line of accessories from Altadis U.S.A. It’s a modestly-priced, disc-shaped humidifier which uses the familiar system of gel crystals which are activated by water.

One advantage of the Humi-Disc is that the device is see-through, so you can tell when the crystals need more water. And this device uses simple tap water rather than distilled water or propylene glycol solutions required by other humidifiers. The gels can hold 100 times their weight in water, which slowly evaporates to provide a relative humidity in a humidor of 70 percent. The compact size of the Humi-Disc suggests that it will work well for keeping 25-30 cigars in good condition.

The Humi-Disc retails for $9.95 and is making its way into stores now. There’s a magnet on the back to attach to the interior of humidors which have a metal plate to hold onto a humifidication device.

>> Short fillers: A hard-to-find, oddball cigar "box" from Cuba known as a "Branch of the Tree" cabinet was sold on eBay in late January. Made of lacquered bark, these cylinder-shaped cases held 25 corona-sized cigars (5 1/2 x 42) and were offered by various manufacturers both before and after the 1959 Revolution, up to about 1980. This one was for H. Upmann, one of the first times in recent memory that a cabinet of this type had been seen for this brand. In good condition, it was clearly a post-Revolution model as the bottom read "Hecho en Cuba" instead of the pre-Revolution "Made in Havana-Cuba." Offered by a Canadian seller, the item drew some lively bidding, ending with nine bids and a final price of $510.00, a bit better than the $479.57 bid for a Sancho Panza model last month. Not bad for tree bark . . . find our latest tasting review, of three marvelous cigars that are on the mild side, in our News & Views archives for February 8.

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Cigar Cyclopedia

2/12/08

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